Ah The Good Ole Days

The other day I received an email about teachers that were going to Boston and the teachers that were being assigned to cover them... The only problem was these teachers work at a different school than I do. I went to ask my principal if she knew anything about it and she said yes. Apparently there is some professional development going on and because of the amount of teachers they had going to it they were scrambling for subs and my principal was like "cool borrow my building sub!" The only problem is she didn't tell me about this conversation and I wasn't notified that I was going to another school until I got that email. After I asked her about it she asked if I was comfortable with it, at that point I didn't want to be a problem. Honestly I was/am comfortable with it, when our district is in need I want to be a team player and help out any way that I can. I just would've like to have been asked or at least notified as opposed to being loaned out like a piece of furniture.

Anyway....

While I was talking to a teacher about being loaned out another teacher that works at my school and the school I'm on loan to so she knew the teacher I was subbing for. She said the class was good and just had one heavy hitter that they probably would keep home. Fast forward to this morning when I got there. There were no kids in the classroom yet and I was reading through the plans and saw a behavior chart with a students name on it and I immediately flashed back to a year ago, which was the last time I had been in this building, and remember this kindergartner flipping out on me. I had no idea she had any special needs, although at the beginning of the school year in kindergarten it's possible she had not been diagnosed with anything yet. So this adorable little girl, now a first grader who somehow remembers me... came in, went to special, spit on someone flipped out and was sent home before 8:15.

Meanwhile, the kids are in special and this school's building sub decided to come chat me up... clearly not noticing I'm trying to familiarize myself with the math lesson before they get back, I'm sure she was just trying to be nice and I wasn't in a bad mood but for some reason she was just rubbing me the wrong me. Later during lunch she came in again and I mentioned that I was writing an email to the teacher I was in for and she looked at me with this face and said "You have her email address? And why are you emailing her??" Like it was the strangest thing ever and I was like "Since I have a district email it's easier for me to leave a detailed account of the day than to try and write it on a piece of paper and I'm sure the teacher wants to know how the day went, I would if it was my class." And she's like "Not me, if it was my class I wouldn't care, I wasn't there so I don't wanna know." Which to me that was an insane answer, if it was my class I would want to know behaviors of my students while I was away and what work was done so I'd know where to pick up and didn't have to rely on kids because whenever you ask a group of kids something you get 100 different answers. Honestly I've been a building sub for almost a year and she's been one for less than a month and she's question how I do my job? I've never had a teacher be like "thanks for the email, next time a little less detail."

Also...

My biggest surprise came when this huge child came up and gave me a hug, didn't say a word, and walked off. After about 20 minutes of contemplation and trying to figure out where I knew that kid's eyes from I realize, he went to the school I work at last year and let's just say he's not one I'd expect to give me a hug on sight. I feel bad that I just kind of mutter out "hey" when I saw him because I didn't recognize him, I actually was happy to see him and would've been happy to talk to him and ask him how he's adjusting at this school. Maybe tomorrow when I go back I'll see him again. I later saw 2 of my other former students and couldn't immediately place their names. It weird to me that I knew their faces but after only a few months I'd dropped their names from my immediate memory. I also saw one of my former coworkers who I really admire as a teacher, and I got to hang out with a library media teacher I like, but I see her sometimes at my current job.

Lastly...

I was reminded of my favorite thing about working at a school where people don't see me everyday, the compliments. I'm down about my ability to be a teacher sometimes but I'm damn good at it. Other teachers and principals always come up to me and talk about how strong of a teacher I am and how I can keep the kids in line, followed by the "are you going to be applying for a job in the district soon?" It's a huge compliment when someone takes notice of how I can do my job. And the substitute principal came in the room today during a moment when the class was behaving amazingly and I was enthusiastically and confidently modelling the math lesson. He gave me a fist bump.

In the Pocket

Continuing my work with my fifth grade tutor student, she tends to not only use run on sentences, but she repeats words several times in her writing. I thought to myself, "How can I help her to come up with other words?" So I decided to have her come up with other words instead of me just telling her what to write.

We began with some commonly overused words in writing: big, small, good, fun, happy, and the dreaded said. #SaidIsDead.
We've all read those papers where every time the student wants a character to talk it's "Bob said, then Jeff said, and Bob said" on and on and on and steady as she goes.

I began by cutting out different color construction papers into the shape of pockets, like pants pockets. I intended to use popsicle sticks to write our synonyms on but I couldn't find my popsicle sticks so what do teachers do? Improvise. I cut up the index cards I had on hand. Together we worked one word at a time to come up with synonyms. It actually ended up being pretty difficult at some points. For her coming up with synonyms, for me coming up with questions to prompt appropriate synonyms. Our end results were awesome! I hung our pockets on the wall and they are available for her to use when she is writing.

Next week we start the writing process so we may be able to use the pockets during revisions!

Punctuation Project!

I am working with a fifth grade student for tutoring and I noticed in her writing she could use a bit of a refresher course in punctuation.

I began by making an anchor chart with four basic punctuation marks, period, exclamation point, question mark, and comma.

Each mark had a short phrase addressing what their job is in writing.

After that, we discussed what each one does and came up with examples. I modeled some and let her write some as well. Then I hung it up in our tutoring room!

The finished product is kind of a jumbled mess if you weren't there to see how it was made but my student was very engaged and able to verbalize what each punctuation does as well as come up with examples. She loved being a part of making the poster as opposed to me just making it and telling her what's what.

Who is that?!

Today's laugh and a half is brought to you by a fourth grade boy...

A few days ago a new family enrolled at my school. I was in the office so I went to show the daughter to her fourth grade classroom. After we got there she wanted to go with us to see where her brother's classroom would be. On the way out of the classroom a boy notices the daughter and I kid you not it was like a cartoon or a movie. He stopped in his tracks, his jaw hit the floor, his eyes popped out of his head and he goes "who is that?!" He wasn't talking to anyone in particular but he kept making comments just to the air trying to figure out if he was the only one who sees this beautiful girl. Her parents and I were trying and failing to hide our raucous laughter.

via GIPHY

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 31

Finally we've landed upon the last day. It's 11 pm and I've just posted like 7 posts cause I've gotten very far behind but I was determined to see this through.

Why do I blog?

I started blogging last year when I was offered the temporary lead teacher position in the daycare I was working in. Since we were doing crafts everyday and I was decorating the classroom and whatnot and I was in charge, I felt like it was the first step in my career starting and I wanted to document it just for myself so I could go back and look at it and see how far I've come. Now that I've been blogging consistently for over a year it's kind of cool to look back at some of the experiences I've had and I don't have to just try and rely on my memories to remember what I've been through, how I've grown and what I've learned.

Thanks for sticking with me through this blog challenge and I hope you've enjoyed getting inside my life as much as I've enjoyed getting to share more....

....we now return to your regularly scheduled blog posts.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 30

What's in my makeup bag

I always wanted to learn how to do makeup and I just started experimenting with it a few months ago so I buy a little bit of makeup every once in a while so currently in my makeup bag is one makeup brush, a bottle of foundation, 2 Kat Von D lipsticks, one red and one purple, one black liquid makeup, and a pink lip liner. I have those colors because I always wear my lipstick in ombre colors when I do wear it.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 29

Where I've traveled

1. Indiana
2. Florida
3. Virginia
4. New York City
5. Atlantic City
6. Buffalo
7. Canada
8. The Bahamas
9. Curacao

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 28

What I look forward to

1. I look forward to finishing school and starting my career.
2. I look forward to having a baby several years into the future. I've always wanted to know what it feels like to carry a child.
3. I look forward to seeing what God has in store for me.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 27

My fave recipe

hmmmm.....

This is a hard decision because I love to cook but here's one I made the other night and it was amazing and simple!

Lemon Garlic Chicken and Roasted Potatoes

To see more of my favorites click on my pinterest to the right ----->

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 26

Woo hoo day 26! 

Anyone remember that band?

Anyway here goes an old pic of me!

My 11th grade yearbook picture. I still like this pic actually!

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 25

I'm going to skip this one because I don't read other blogs

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 24

Fave Childhood book

It's hard for me to pick a favorite of things... books, movies, songs anything

I'm just going to say The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

That's just the one I remember the most and I like Eric Carle's unique illustration style.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 23

Dream Job

That's an easy one

I love working with toddlers. I was running my own toddler classroom over the summer and I loved it. If I could make enough money doing that to live off of I would but it does not pay very much. I never understood why teachers and daycare workers don't make much money. We're expected to teach your child things they need to get through life and we get paid so little. I'm hoping to own my own daycare one day which would put me in a position to work with the age group I want as well as make some money. In my head I'd like to do that as well as be a classroom teacher but I'm not yet sure how realistic that is.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 22

Best thing that happened this year

I'm going to say the best thing that has happened to me this year is for our 5 year anniversary my boyfriend and I went on our first real vacation together. He's always talked about how he never been to Disneyworld and wanted to go so we went to Disney. Some of the vacation I was absolutely miserable because it was August and I packed flat sandals instead of sneakers so my feet were killing me from the walking and I mostly packed dresses so the combination of sweat and these thick thighs rubbing together was like fire it was terrible. But I wouldn't say the whole trip was a disaster because I had a wonderful time with him and we got to make a lot of memories together on that trip. I definitely won't forget it.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 21

10 favorite foods

Finally one thats not so deep

So lets get in there, in no specific order

1. Seafood - I know thats not a specific food but I'd be taking up this whole list talkin about "crab legs, lobster tails, shrimp... etc."
2. Pizza rolls - I know pizza rolls are for 15 year old stoners but they make a good snack.
3. Tacos - Not the authentic mexican kind of tacos, the crappy american taco bell kind
4. Eggs - I usually only eat my eggs scrambled but I've been trying to eat them in different ways as well, poached, over easy etc.
5. Potatoes - oooooh man I love potatoes. I don't know what it is but a good, well seasoned potato? Baked, roasted, mashed, boiled, I love potatoes.
6. Bacon - no explanation needed
7. Fried chicken - actually I'm just gunna say chicken because I like all kinds of chicken, baked, bbq, fried, oven fried, crockpot. Chicken is so versatile I love to experiment with it.
8. Ramen noodles - not the real japenese delicacy, just .88 cent joints you get from the store in the package. I know theyre terrible for you health wise but lately I've been adding other seasonings in addition to the pack seasonings and they just hit the spot some days.
9. Bacon/Sausage egg and cheese sandwiches - I don't really like cheese except in specific circumstances, also I'm lactose intolerant so I really don't eat cheese to often. However when I buy a sausage egg and cheese I'll eat cheese. But as for my bacon sandwiches I only like them when I make them at home and I don't put cheese, however there are a few delis and shops in my hometown that make a good bacon egg and cheese on a roll that I eat.
10. Hot dogs - I love hot dogs but I rarely ever have them anymore. I get a lot of headaches and my doctor says the nitrates in hot dogs contribute to that so I've stopped buying them.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 20

Difficult time in my life

I've had a pretty fortunate life. Not many people I know have passed yet, no abuse or neglect in my life, no homelessness. Most of my stress comes from school and work.

My work stress comes from the situations of my students and knowing I can't help them without breaking any laws or crossing any boundaries. 

My school stress comes from my work lead, I'm in my seventh year of college and hopefully finishing in December with my Master's.

Back to an actual difficult time. When I was in 10th grade, my first year of high school, I went through what I decided was a short stage of depression. By short I mean most of the year but I diagnosed myself so I use the term depression lightly. I had a lot of friends, I wasn't being bullied, I really don't know what happened. One day I just started feeling like I didn't want to talk to anyone or do anything. I'd come into school and hide under my jacket all day, not say anything most of the day, have lunch in my guidance counselor's office. My friends were all really concerned, they tried asking me what was wrong, they tried tough love, they cared. I would go to school and wait for the day to be over so I could go back home, then at home I didn't want to be around anyone and I'd stay in my room all night, not getting any homework done which would add to the stress. I just basically wasn't doing anything at any time of the day. 

Wow this is really hard for me to talk about I've never gotten into detail with anyone about this time in my life. I felt like because I didn't have any traumatic event happen and that there were people with much worse lives that no one would care about my internal issues and think I was just whiney baby. I also didn't know how to verbalize what the problem was because I really didn't know.

Anyway I think the downward spiral stemmed from the workload. When I was in junior high I was in honors classes, then in 9th grade I was taken out of some of them, then in high school I wasn't in any. My friends were always talking about AP calc this and AP world history that and I was barely comprehending my regular courses. Maybe I was feeling inadequate and just went under a rock. I'm very lucky that I didn't turn to drugs or sexual acting out or any number of things that could've happened, especially where I grew up. Eventually I just came out of it, I don't really know how. My guidance counselor really helped. She was really the only one I talked to during that time.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 19

What I collect

I used to collect keychains when I was younger. It started off as my brother's collection and eventually he gave it to me and I would add one from everywhere I went and ask other people to get me ones from places they went. I loved to bring it to school like once or twice a year to show people because they were always so shocked and this massive wad of keychains I would pull out of my bag.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 18

Meaning behind my blog name

...I'm a teacher....

.....and I have an afro.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 17

My proudest moment

I don't know, I'm generally proud of myself pretty often.

Most of my proud moments have to do with teaching and my students but those are their achievements.

My proudest moment for myself was walking across the stage at my bachelor's degree graduation and I'm going to feel twice as proud when I complete my master's.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 16

The top of my bucket list

I want to say that's a tough one and I probably should give it more thought but whenever I heard bucket list, Australia comes to mind. I've always wanted to go there. I don't even know why. I mean I love kangaroos and koalas and it looks beautiful but something about it just calls to me.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 15

An average day..

Wake up

Stay in bed until about 15 minutes before I need to leave the house

Do my morning bathroom things

Try to grab some breakfast or eat it in the car

Make sure my hair doesn't look homeless

Get dressed and pack a lunch... probably forget my work badge at home

Fly to work and hope my boss doesn't notice I'm late

Go to the office and see if there are any absent teachers I could fill in for

If there aren't, go help out in kindergarten and anywhere else I could help

Go home

Have a snack

Hopefully go to the gym but not always

Take a nap

Have dinner with my boyfriend and watch some shows together

Do some homework I hope

Maybe do some housework

Try to go to bed by 10 but actually stay up past midnight

Sleep

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 14

If won the lottery...

I'm super boring when it comes to this question cause I'm all like "Ok well how much? Do I have to pay taxes?" And the first thing that always comes to mind is paying off the massive student debt I'm currently accumulating. Then I'd get myself a nicer place to live. After a few wise investments so that my money could continue to make money well into the future, I'd use the money to start my dream of owning my own daycare(s). I already have the name of it picked out. I LOVE working with toddlers and babies but it simply does not pay enough for one to live a comfortable lifestyle on their own. Of course I would like to be married one day but I don't want to live my life planning to depend on someone else. So to me the only way to get to work with the kids and make a decent amount of money off of it is to be the owner. Of course I am not a teacher for the purposes of getting rich but at the end of the day I've got bills to pay. I'm trying to find a way to combine my passion of working with young children and making money. I'd also invest in some rental properties, being a landlord seems like some easy side money. My old landlords were never around because they're old and married and just spend their days travelling rackin up on rent money. I'd also get myself a nice car, I don't know what kind but a nice one. I'd probably also donate to causes I believe in like Alzheimer's and rescue animals. I'd probably also donate to impoverished children or schools or something. Obviously working in a school I see a lot of types of families and lifestyles and schools that try hard but always need more.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 13

My earliest memory

This is surprisingly and easy on for me and a story I enjoy remembering.

When I was born my family lived in the Bronx. When I was 4 we moved upstate. I must've fallen asleep on the car ride. When we arrived at our new home, my dad wrapped me in a blanket, carried me up the stairs to my new room... and left me on the naked floor. When I woke up I was in a strange room with black and white checkerboard pattern on the floor so naturally what do I do? Cry. I was just laying on top of my white blanket with the animals and letters on it crying until my dad came back upstairs and got me.

I don't really know why I like that memory but I do. Maybe because I'm a daddy's girl and my parents still live in that house so I grew up in it for... my whole life.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 12

What's in my fridge?

Well this is a weird one

uhhh..

1. My boyfriend and I meal prep so a few dinners for the week and something he cut up and I assume is marinating or something.
2. A bag of salad.
3. An orange and a package of mint (not mints) which I use in my water bottle infuser.
4. My water bottle with my fruit infusing in it for tomorrow as well as several regular water bottles.
5. I decided to try slim fast a few days ago so I have a few bottles of that in my fridge.
6. Turkey bacon - I was eating bacon and eggs almost every morning that I was up early enough to do so. I was getting a bit worried about how unhealthy all that bacon is so I switched to turkey but its been a few months now and I'll be switching back to regular bacon after this pack. Not forever but I need some bacon bacon.
7. Condiments (barbecue sauce, lemon and lime juices, italian dressing, jelly)
8. Half a ham steak. I like to make my boyfriend and I ham steak and eggs for breakfast. I recently taught myself how to make home fries so I make them with the ham steak but it becomes too much food to eat a whole ham steak with eggs and home fries.
9. Bread - even though I've heard putting bread in the fridge makes it mold faster. I normally don't but I don't want to share the reason I currently have to.
10. Carrot and celery sticks as well as hummus and french onion dips.
11. Pumpkin pie and the rest of that birthday cake I wrote about a few days ago.
12. Butter
13. Eggs
14. A few other things that belong to my boyfriend that I don't remember.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 11

15 of my fave things

1. My hair
2. Cool socks which I have a drawer full of but I'm starting to pull away from wearing them as I change my professional style. But I'm probably not going to stop wearing them in the near future.
3. Talenti Mango sorbet
4. Pokemon Go #TeamValor I tend to get addicted to video games for a certain amount of time and then I move on. They're usually games I can find online or facebook and play for a short period of time to distract myself while I'm doing my homework. Sometimes I'm using to break up the stress, other times I'm just procrastinating. I don't get out and play Pokemon as much as I'd like though and now that it's getting colder? Who knows.
5. My motorola 360 watch. I never really wanted a smartwatch but my boyfriend got me one and it's actually pretty helpful, when I remember to stay in the vicinity of my phone.
6. My blog. I had a blog in the past but I didn't really keep up with it, maybe because I was hoping for a lot of views and interactions and that's the wrong reason to blog, so when I didn't get those things, I got discouraged and kind of fell off. This blog is more just for me to reminisce and reflect with myself about my teaching experience. Now that I've been writing for over a year I can look back on some of my posts and relive things I've been through. It's someone therapeutic.
7. My Squid Guy and My Freedom Doggie. Freedom Doggie is a pink and white dog stuffed animal that my boyfriend got me for valentines day a few years ago. Squid Guy is a stuffed animal I fell in love with in Disneyworld 2 months ago. And again my boyfriend got it for me. He actually isn't a squid though he's the septopus from Finding Dory.
8. My shows. I have a few tv shows I watch.... that a lie, I have many tv shows I watch every week. And some on netflix.
9. My hamster. I don't consider him or people a 'thing' but I'm running out of stuff, I'm not even sure I like 15 things. But my hamster's name is Panda and he's a cutie-ba-butie. He lives in a small version of my my apartment building or as I call it, his apartment. He grew out of his old cage and most hamsters are dwarf breeds so hamster cages are made for small little guys, which he is not so I had to buy him a huge cage for small rodents.
10. A broken clock I have. Towards the beginning of my relationship with him, my boyfriend got me a clock shaped like a treble clef but I didn't have anywhere to hang it while I was living in my parent's house. A few years later we live together and I hung it in our house... until it fell off the wall and broke. Which brings me to my next favorite thing...
11. My tattoo. I have a huge tattoo on my thigh and it's like a garter belt that ties into a bow. It's also a music staff with the first few measures from Bach Invention (oh lord I never remember if it's #4 or #8) Both songs are significant to me. My senior year in high school was my last opportunity to participate in NYSSMA. The level I competed for required me to learn 2 songs so I learned Bach Invention #4 and #8. I love them both and the tattoo represents my love of music, the piano, and a reminder of how much I loved playing. I don't play so much anymore but I do still love it. ...runs over to google... it's #8.
12. My love and talent for the flute and the piano.
13. Going to the gym. I have a hard time dragging myself there sometimes but I feel better after a good workout.
14. My lipsticks. I always wanted to learn how to do makeup and this year I finally tried something bold for my lips and I'm actually pretty good at it.
15. Lastly... I don't know I'm having a hard time thinking of another thing. Gimmie a minute....

...okay I've got something. My bed. Not just because I love sleep (which I do a little too much I probably should see someone about that) but because it's my safe haven. My bed is where I feel most comfortable. I sleep here, I eat here, I watch my shows here, I do my homework here. It's like that home base when you're a kid and you're outside playing tag. I'm safe.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 10

My Best physical feature

I know it sounds conceited but this is actually a tough one.

If you ask me it's between my hair and my smile

....if you ask my boyfriend it's my butt.

While I was younger I always had people compliment my smile. Tell me how white it was and how beautiful my teeth were. They still do now.

I also had relaxes hair until about 3 years ago. For those unfamiliar with the term that means I used to use harsh chemicals to straighten my hair. I never really learned how to take care of it so it was a mess most of the time. Now that I have this huge afro I am absolutely in love with my hair.

So tell me what you think?

 

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 9

Worst habits

Hmm... I don't know this is a tough one no one like to talk bad about themselves

1. I constantly feel the need to keep my nose, ears and nails clean... so I'm always cleaning them which is gross but I wash my hands a lot so it evens out.
2. I watch a lot of kids shows and not a lot of the news and stuff. I don't think that's really bad though.
3. I buy a lot of shoes knowing I don't have anywhere to wear them.
4. My worst habit is the amount of money I spend at Popeye's. Seriously, it's a problem.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 8

What's in my handbag?

Off top? A lot of unnecessary crap.

1. My epipen - about 2 1/2 year ago I realized my lips were breaking out eating certain foods so I saw an allergist. Turns out I have a long list of allergies including things I've never even heard of let alone eaten. The worst reactions I've had have just been bumps or itchy red spots but every time I have a reaction it's a bit worse so I keep the epipen with me at all times just in case.
2. My cellphone
3. My ipod
4. Whatever make up I have on my lips that day in case I need to fix it but I never do. Once it dries it lasts the whole day, I'm always surprised and checking to see if it's still on. Especially after I've eaten.
5. Pepper spray - my boyfriend bought it for me and I feel a bit safer carrying it around.
6. A few pens
7. Some pieces of jewelry I've taken off during the day.
8. My badge that says "Officer's daughter"
9. My wallet
10. And last but not least.... several pounds of discarded papers and receipts.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 7

Pet Peeves?? boooy don't get me started I'll be updating this one for days as I think of more I'll start off with what comes to mind, in no particular order.

1. I call this one "Mrs. Always Right"- I know people always like to think they're right, I know I'm not right ALL the time but when I know I'm right about something I'll argue you down about it. But I ONLY stay adamant when I know what I'm talking about so it makes me crazy when people just dismiss me.
2. This actually probably should have been number 1 but like I said, no specific order. I HATE when people talk over me. That makes me nuts. Especially if they start responding or trying to correct me or tell me what they think I was going to say and it doesn't go with what I was actually saying. You'd know what I was actually going to say... if you'd let me finish saying it.
3. I'm going to try not to bad mouth  my boyfriend online cause I love him but this spot is reserved for every boyfriend pet peeve I could or would think of.
4. High heels. They look so cute but they hurt so bad. I'm only 25 and I've already basically given up on high heels if I know I'm going to be somewhere for more than an hour. 2 tops.
5. People who bite their fingernails. I HATE the way that looks, A. having your hands in your mouth is super germy and B. it makes your hands look disgusting especially when they get all short and dry and sunken in to your fingers. Ew.
6. Nail polish. I don't know why I've always hated nail polish. I have an early memory of being in a car seat and looking down at my toes and seeing polish on them and screaming crying. I've only gotten my nails done twice since then. Under protest. The sight of a polish brush touching my nail causes me actual anxiety. Especially my toenails *puke*. There are a few specific places I can't stand to see nail polish... besides in general
1. On men
2. On my toenails
3. On very tiny fingernails, like little girls which brings me to my next pet peeve
7. Little girls with purses. What do you have in there, toys??
8. Parents who let their children act grown be it the way they talk or act. The other day I was standing by a door in a fifth grade classroom while the kids were coming in and a fifth grader tripped over/stepped on my foot then looked at me like I did something to him. I said "When you step on someone you should say excuse me." He responded with "No you should move your foot." I was about to lose my mind excuse me? I should what?

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 6

My 5 senses right now

I'm not 100% sure of the intended meaning of this one so I'm going to do my own interpretation

Sight 

When I watch tv I tend to change the channel several times (my boyfriend hates it). As opposed to the traditional last channel only option, my tv has a last 4 option so I'll scroll through my guide until I pick 5 shows (last 4 + the one currently on the screen) that I want to watch.... then when one show is on commercial I change to another one. I can see how that can be annoying but what can you do? I'm currently watching Ride Along, You Got Served, Waist Deep and Full House.

Sound

I'm hearing the movie Ride Along, so mostly Kevin Hart and Ice Cube's voices. I also hear my boyfriend playing video games in the living room. It actually isn't as loud as usual but I know he's playing. And I'm hearing the familiar clickity clack of my keyboard.

Smell

My eyes are very bad but my ears and nose work at an above average rate in my opinion. The only thing I smell right now is the delicious cake that I should not be eating this late at night.

Touch

I feel my keyboard and my very comfortable bed. Which is the most comfortable when I'm tryin to take a nap, and in the morning when I'm trying to go to work. It's also very comfortable when I haven't gotten ready for bed yet but am feeling slightly tired.

Taste

My boyfriend's birthday was a few days ago so I made him a cake which I'm currently shoveling into my face after midnight. It's strawberry shortcake with cheesecake in the middle all of which I made myself... except the cheesecake part. Not that I can't make a good cheesecake... I just didn't

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 5

Sorry I'm a few days behind, I was out of town and didn't have my laptop so time to play catch up!

10 Songs I love right now (In no specific order)

1. Don't Ever Play Yourself - DJ Khalid
2. Said 'N' Done - French Montana
3. Girls/Girls/Boys - Panic! At The Disco
4. Washpoppin - Cardi B.
5. No - Meghan Trainor
6. The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty - Panic! At The Disco
7. Stripper Hoe - Cardi B.
8. Legendary - Chinx
9. House of Memories - Panic! At The Disco
10. Really Really - Kevin Gates

My boyfriend always says my music choices don't match what he knows about my personality lol I bump trap music on the way to work as a teacher. Fight me.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 4

What I'm afraid of

Some of the things I'm afraid of are pretty dark (I watch a lot of SVU) so I'll try to keep it PG-13 at best.

1. I'm afraid of not being able to move my arms and legs. I consider it a form of claustrophobia. If I'm somewhere where I can't move my arms or legs up or out I'd have to literally force myself to pretend I'm somewhere else and stop trying to move so I'll forget I can't. It either stems from a childhood incident or that incident is just what made me realize the fear.
2. I'm afraid that I tried all this time to not have a baby before I was ready, and that when I am ready one day I won't be able to for some medical reason.
3. I'm afraid of being kidnapped and sold. (SVU)

I don't think I have many others that I can think of.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 3

My fave quote

Damn this is a hard one. I don't think about quotes too often but I have come across a few I like, I just can't bring one to mind so quickly.

"Damn Daniel!"

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 2

Twenty facts about me

oh lord... here we go..

1. I was born on the first day of summer June 21st which happens to be my favorite day of the year.
2. A teacher is the first thing I said I wanted to be when I was a kid.
3. I'm a trash reality tv junkie and I am not ashamed.
4. I love tattoos but I only have 1 because I'm afraid to hate them when I get older.
5. I've always wanted to have long hair but I never could get it passed my shoulders.
6. I love we wear crazy socks.
7. I hated dresses when I was a kid, but now I wear a dress every day the weather permits.
8. I've never drank so much that I blacked out.
9. I've had 2 dogs in my life, several fish, and a hamster.
10. I don't have much patience with people but I have much more for children.
11. I've been in college for 7 years and still do finish my homework the day it's due.
12. I have one brother and one sister-in-law.
13. This week I'll be attending my first comic con.
14. I always wanted to go to Vans Warped Tour but never made it.
15. I've seen Fall Out Boy live 5 times in 2 countries.
16. I play the flute and the piano.
17. Although I had some bad roommate situations, I had an amazing time during undergrad and met some of my best friends.
18. Transitioning my hair to it's natural form is one of the best decisions I've made about my body.
19. I like jewelry but I hardly ever wear it because I'm allergic to most metals.
20. I love cute high heeled shoes but my feet start to hurt after like an hour in them.

31 Day Blog Challenge - Day 1

I've been meaning to do this challenge for months now but I never remember on the first day of the month but here I am!! First day of October let's get it started!

Day 1 - Introduction and recent pic

I'm Danielle, I'm 25 and I'm a substitute teacher. I'm working on finishing my Master's degree and looking forward to being finished with school for a while. I hope to be a Kindergarten teacher and own my own daycare one day.

Good Thing It's Not a What?!

Today's laugh and a half is brought to you by a kindergartner, a kindergarten teacher... and a bug.

A kindergartner goes to use the in-class bathroom. When he comes out he's pointing at the floor and saying "There's a spider!" The kindergarten teacher goes over to see what's happening and yells out when she sees what she described as a giant bug that freaked her out deeply. We started moving boxes and shelves trying to find the bug and she goes "good thing it wasn't a c-o-c-k". The other teacher in the room and I look at each other like wtf a what?? Later she said "I would've freaked out if it was a roach." The other teacher and I busted out laughing... We did not think she meant a roach.

Birthdays are all a Buzz

I made my classroom a cute birthday wall, here's how!

What you'll need:

• Black and yellow paint
• Paint brushes
• Paper
• A list of your kids' birthdays
• Eyeball stickers (optional)
• Some tiny adorable feet

What to do:

1. Paint your child's foot with yellow and black stripes. In the past when I did bumblebee feet I painted the whole foot yellow and added the black stripes to the dry footprint, I suggest that method, it makes for less smudging.
2. Have your child put their foot on the paper. This part can actually be a bit more tricky than it sounds. If your child is sitting, they may not be able to reach the floor and you'll have to stand them up. Standing them up without putting the painted foot on the floor before you're ready is tough so hold that foot with one hand and help them balance on the other foot with the other. Also when you do get the foot on the paper it will be slippery with paint and the kid will move around. Try presetting them to wait until you are ready, then quickly put the foot down, hold it in place while counting to 5 out loud, they'll want to count with you!
3. After the footprint is done, help them sit back down without getting that painted foot on anything else. Use a wet paper towel or baby wipe to clean off the majority of the paint, your probably won't get it all off but it will come off after a bath or two at home.
4. After your footprint is dry, draw some antennae and wings next to it. In one wing write your child's name and in the other write their birthday. Don't forget to add a face!

The finished product:

Some of them are handprints, I had some kids that had issues with the thought of their feet being painted but were willing to do their hands. Same steps!

Pee-jamas

Today's laugh and a half is brought to you by a 2 year old boy and my teacher assistant

So my last day of being lead teacher was this past Friday, it was also wacky week so it was pajama day; meaning my kids and I were all wearing pajamas. We're outside on the playground and I pick up a little boy. His pants feel a bit wet but I'm not paying attention so I'm just thinking he might have sat in something. When I put him down I realize my pajama shirt is SOAKED. I look at my teacher assistant and I'm like why is my shirt so wet? She's like "maybe it's from the bubbles you were blowing." And I'm thinking bubble don't make your shirt this wet. So I go feel the kid's pants and they are DRENCHED. I look at my TA and she goes "How can his pants be that wet if he has a diaper on?" So I take a look... no diaper. I'm like wtf "Did you not put a diaper on him after you changed him?!" She's like "I thought I did." I ask the kid "Where's your diaper?" He goes "Um it's inside." And I'm like "How did it get inside? Did you take it off or did Lola take it off?" He says "Lola did." I peek inside the classroom to see if I see a diaper on the floor anywhere, I don't.

We take all the kids inside so I can change this kid and get him some dry clothes. When I go to take his wet pants off what do I find? His diaper... stuffed up into the ankle area of his pants, soaked. So I'm dying laughing and now I have to change his whole pants, socks and shoes. Then he doesn't have extra shoes in his stuff so... now he's barefoot until I can find him some shoes.

*All names are changed for confidentiality.

Wacky Work Week

I'm entering my final week as Lead Teacher... again. My boss' boss was in our facility the other day and tried to convince me to stay on like my boss has been. She tried telling me about how I could be an assistant director or a director. And I mentioned to her that I didn't know if I was qualified to be a director, she says I am. Mind you this is only the first or second time I've met this woman so if she's trying to convince me to stay on and climb the ranks than I can only assume my boss has spoken pretty highly of me.

If there is an opening for a higher position in January I'd like to consider it. Now of course you don't just walk into management and she didn't actually offer me anything so I'm not just assuming I'm going to walk in one day and be the boss. No of course not, I'm not that naive. But after thinking about it a little, I think it'd be better to say "I'm the Director" than to say "I'm the substitute teacher".

Now You See Me...

Today's laugh and a half moment is brought to you by a 2 year old (the same one as yesterday actually)

I was sitting on the floor and I asked this 2 year old child to come to me, he wasn't in trouble I just wanted a hug. He recently does this thing with me and my teacher assistant where if we're asking him to come get hugs or cuddles he laughs and runs away. So he ran behind a shelf where I couldn't see him but there was a mirror behind him so I actually could still see him. I craned my neck around and said "I see you!" and of course he giggled and ran away. He ran to the other side of the shelf and I said "I still see you!" and he giggled and ran back to the other side. This continued for a few times. Then I had to look away to attend to another child for a second. When he came back around the shelf waiting for me to say "I see you" and saw I was doing something else, he pulled his shirt over his head and started walking quietly toward me. When I turned around I couldn't help but crack up at the fact that he figured if his shirt was over his face than I couldn't see him. Toddlers are endlessly hilarious.

It's Too Dark

Today's laugh and a half moment is brought to you by a 2 year old...

So I was doing a music activity with my students today. I asked them to close their eyes and listen to flight of the bumblebee. I say "close your eyes tight and keep 'em closed." One of them starts making this face like he's about to cry and he's whining and opens his eyes. I go "what's wrong?" he responds with "It's dark in my eyes!!"

WHAT?!!?! lmfao it's dark in your eyes??!

Moving On and On and On

Once again I find myself in the midst of a... I don't know if I should necessarily say a career transition because I'm transitioning back to my position as a building substitute at the same school I was working at before. But I just seem to constantly find myself changing jobs. My current job is as lead teacher of a toddler classroom... aka my dream job if it paid more. My boss really wants to keep me on but I refer you back to the "if it paid more" comment.

I love both of my jobs and I find myself searching for a way to keep them both but I can recall a year and a few months ago and working 3 jobs being very overwhelmed. I also recall trying to work and go to grad school, Knowing how that felt and trying to add a second job where I'd basically be doing 12 hour days and then trying to come home and do homework. It doesn't sound good. Plus there are several other factors.

1. I imagine that if I stay on and only work in the afternoon at the daycare, that I couldn't remain lead teacher and keep my classroom or my pay which means I'd be making even LESS than the not enough I'm already making.
2. I'm taking a huge pay cut at my subbing job as well. We lost the grant our school had so we no longer have an extended school day so we are going to be paid less.
3. They've decided to start insuring building subs and I recently lost my old insurance but... that's another chunk of my paycheck.
4. It's my final semester of grad school and I really don't wanna fuck it up.

I also am being considered for covering a maternity leave for a first grade teacher in my school. I'm very excited about the prospect

1. I love that teacher
2. I know most of last year's kindergartners/this year's first graders and I'm excited to be their teacher even for a bit
3. I'm nervous as heck about being in charge again but the experience will prepare me for having my own classroom which is a goal of mine that is quickly approaching.

Teachers aka Improv Artists

For beach week my intended cooking activity was going to be "beach in a cup".

What's beach in a cup you say?

Well I'm glad you asked.

Beach in a cup is when you use blue jello to replicate an ocean in a cup, then crumble some yellow cookies on top to simulate your "beach". To up the cuteness of the craft you can add a piece of fruit roll up to be your beach towel and lay a teddy gram on top as your sunbather. And the pièce de résistance... a small drink umbrella to be your beach umbrella.

Cute right?

Totes, it's adorable. So there's only so much "cooking" you can do with a 10 two-year-olds in a room, all of whom are eager to participate and crowding around the table. Start at the jello, usually something that you do with boiling water. Am I giving two-year-olds boiling water? No. So I let the kids pour the jello mix into the bowl, then take turns pouring cold water in the bowl. After that they took turns stirring the jello. I vigorously stirred it after that, but I just could not get the jello to dissolve enough. I hoped for the best, spooned it into separate cups and put it in the fridge overnight.

Fast forward to the next day.

I checked the jello in the fridge expecting jello but just checking as a formality...

Total. freaking. liquid.

So I'm looking around like... bro -__-

My boss tells me to leave it until nap time and if it hasn't set by then then to freeze it... I'm like if it didn't set overnight it isn't gunna be set in the next 4 hours.

So they put it in the freezer for me.

Here comes the improv

Now my beach in a cup jellos are going to be jello pops with cookies on the side... as if the kids will care.

But fast forward to snack time and the jello isnt all the way frozen yet either!

This jello is causing far too many f#@&ing problems in my life.

So I'm like Hey, I can still save this. Since it's in a slushie state they can eat it with a spoon I can still go with the original plan.

So we crumble the cookies and lay the teddy gram on top and voila.

My point is, teachers think quickly on their feet.

No Pictures Please!

At my new job they're very strict about us not having our cell phones out. Since I've been working in my field I've actually tried hard to abide by the rules and not get into trouble at work, versus when I worked in the grocery store and I didn't give a f..... you know.

A year ago when I started this blog I was taking pictures almost everyday  of the various crafts and projects we did... with my phone. It makes me sad to not be able to show everyone the cute ideas I come up with... or "borrow" from others, and the work that my kiddos do.

I'm going to try to take pictures of our bulletin board at the end of every week if I can but no guarantees. For now I guess we'll have to settle for me describing their beautiful artwork for you.

Turning the Corner

A few weeks ago I started a new job where I'm a Lead Teacher in a toddler classroom again and I am sooooo happy.

I haven't posted in a while because I had a few other things I wanted to post about but didnt because of some personal issues that conflicted with my work and my schooling.

Anyway I'm going to skip those posts or maybe post them later.

I love being a toddler teacher like there is no tomorrow. My kids are the perfect age for me, 2's who are almost 3. They're still little and cuddly but they're old enough to talk and have some self sufficiency.

The small things make me feel like I'm really making a difference. For example, my school does a different theme every week, this week was farmer's market week. I had been trying to teach the children things about the farmer's market. What it is, what we get there, who works there, where the food comes from etc. During snack time we had carrots, I looked at the table and said "Oh we have carrots, where can we buy carrots from?" and one little boy actually said "At the farmer's market!"

My heart filled with joy. It might seem like a small simple thing but to know that they're actually paying attention and I'm teaching them something is literally my entire life's goal.

The Dilemma

I love my new job but I only intended to be their for the summer and then return to substitute teaching. Everyone at my job is really cool and nice and I feel really appreciated there. They constantly tell me what a good job I'm doing and how they wish I would stay passed the summer and I could possibly move up the ranks in time (although that may have just been a playful conversation). But it's a significant pay cut from subbing. I love subbing and I love being a lead teacher. I hate to make a decision based off money but I have bills to pay and I'm trying to save to have a better life. I hate being in a position in my life where all of my jobs and my living situations are temporary. Hopefully after I graduate I can stop hopping around and just stay in one place.

DAB ON EM

I'm starting a research project with my second graders soon and I was trying to figure out a way to get them excited about it. I've seen those posters that make acronyms out of popular dances like Hit the Quan and Dab On Em so I jumped on board.

Our classroom is Minion themed so I try to incorporate Minions whenever I can. Lucky for me I happened to find a Minion doing the Dab on the internet. #Score

So our research process is as follows

Decide on a topic - Pretty self explanatory, pick what you're going to research

Ask questions - Figure out what things you want to know about your topic

Brainstorm answers to your questions - Make educated guesses and predictions about the answers to your questions. Also take this time to think about where your could find the answers.

Open a book - Look for information in books (a good excuse to get kids into the library as well as show them how we had to research before the internet was as accessible to kids as it is today)

surf the Net - Use the internet to search for answers on reputable websites

Evaluate your answers - Here's the step where we actually start answering the questions we want to know about our topic

Mark notes on paper - Don't forget to write down your answers!

The Name Game

I wanted to make some new name tags for this kids but I wanted them to help make them. I got the idea from pinterest to take one of those word art fonts and write each child's name. The ones I saw on pinterest looked nice, they were printed with designs on them but I let the kids color them instead, then I cut them out and taped them to their desks.

I think their cute and now they're more personal to each student! Hopefully they last the rest of the school year.

Agent P teaches Pronouns

My students were having a problem remembering what a pronoun is and frankly I couldn't remember what they were off the top of my head when they asked. So I made them an anchor chart starring Perry the Platypus aka Agent P.

As I always tell my students, he may not be perfect but I tried my best. Anyway, I started the poster with the definition of what a pronoun is. We talked about it and I gave a few examples, then had the children come up with some examples and write them on the poster. I thought it'd be more meaningful if they got to help me make it instead of me just listing a bunch of words to them.

What Time Is It?

I decorated the classroom clock to look like a flower in order to help the students with telling time. In a way I feel like it's cheating but, help them get the skill now, they'll be able to do it with ease later.

I'm not afraid of heights but I was very nervous getting up on a ladder to hang these up. Particularly since the teacher I'm in for is out with a broken foot she got from climbing on something in her classroom and falling.

Anyway the flower serves two purposes. One to look cute cause it's spring time. And two each pedal represent the minutes on the clock, but the leaves on the stem are strategically showing that the hour hand and minute hand are different lengths.

Author's Purpose

In a few days I will be taking the students to see Freckleface Strawberry. So the teacher I'm in for asked me to do a lesson on author's purpose using the story. Of course I came back with another anchor chart (Damn Danielle back at it again with the dope anchor charts).

I teach my students that "easy" is a math swear word, but in this case we'll make an exception. To help remember the parts common answers to "Why did the author write this story?" we say "Author's Purpose is Easy as Pie" but then I decided to add "Tea" as well.

So the choices are persuade, inform, entertain or teach also known as PIE with Tea.

After we read the story once to get the gist of it, we went over the choices again. Then we listened to the story again and the students wrote on post it notes which one they thought was the author's purpose and why. Then came up and stuck their post it on their choice.

As you can see most thought the purpose was to teach. However I preset them that there could be more than one right answer and just because the majority were on one choice doesn't mean their answer is wrong and to be confident in what they wrote and thought.

Suffixes

So back to second grade we go. I'm still in for that teacher that broke her foot. I know I'm posting all of these on the same day but that's just because this is the first free minute I've had, they didn't all take place on the same day.

Anyway during one of the stories we read this week the associated skill was suffixes so I made yet another cute chart to talk about suffixes and how they change the meaning of a word.

We talked about how when using a suffix you add it to a base word and it changes the meaning of the original word.

1. Slow + ly = slowly "To do something in a slow way"
2. Hope + ful = hopeful "To be full of hope"
3. Teach + er = teacher "A person who teaches"
4. Tall + er = taller "I am taller than my son" (enforce that it is important to compare to something. I got a lot of "The car is heavier" and "The teacher is taller" ... ok heavier than what? taller than what?)
5. Visit + or = visitor "A person who visits"
6. Child + ish = childish "To be like a child"

Paragraph Organization

While working with a fourth grader I noticed she could work on her paragraph structure and organization. So I again busted out my fancy anchor chart making skills to do the typical hamburger paragraph. I also added some transition words to the side to help remind the students of words they can use to help.

A good paragraph needs:

1. A topic sentence
2. At least 3 good details
3. A good closing sentence
4. and for fourth grade at least 6-8 sentences

Capitalization

During one of my lessons I realized a fourth grader I was working with could use a reminder of when to capitalize letters when writing so I wrote a lesson for her about it. We started with a paragraph I had written, full of purposeful capitalization mistakes. We read the paragraph together, then went through it sentence by sentence. She located each capitalization error, then replaced it with the proper letters using post it notes.

 Some of them were obvious to her, while others were a struggle which brings me into my next lesson but we'll talk about that later. She was able to tell that "I" needed to be capitalized but unable to tell me why besides that it looked funny. She was very engaged however, she even asked if I would write her a new paragraph so we could do it again!

Main Idea and Details

While working with a fourth grader for a graduate school assignment we discussed finding the main idea and details in a story. We talked about why good readers find the main idea. We read the first chapter and a half of Brittany the Basketball Fairy by Daisy Meadows.

We used this fancy anchor chart I made to talk about it. Why do readers find the main idea? How do good readers find the main idea?

After the reading of the story as well as a few comprehension questions. My student filled out this graphic organizer identifying the main idea and 3 details supporting her main idea.

She didn't realize she was supposed to write each detail in one box at first. :-P